schardein

Don't you hate those attention grabbing banner headlines. I know I do. This isn't insane. But it did happen! It ain't a hangar queen!

Late model 91 giveaway, the washer fluid bottle is on the pass side. My 91 had it next to the brake booster. I grabbed what I think of as a "92 and up" one from the junkyard but then went with the late model XJ inside the fender version. My truck also has the burgundy interior and it has grown on me also! Great truck and also great pictures! Thanks for posting.

Another "Aw s&$t" is the rotation of the water pump. Did you eyeball the new pump's impeller against the old one to make sure they are the same (reverse rotation)? Some Jeep models use the same pump with standard rotation. Yep. I'm sure this doesn't apply here, but I have seen a regular rotation fan (for v belts), installed on a CJ7 with a serpentine (reverse rotation) motor. CJs with California emissions had serpentine/reverse rotation setups on the old 258.

Please don't be offended, just trying to help. When you installed your new thermostat, the end with the spring went into the block? Can't remember if it can even be put in backward on a Jeep 4.0, but it can on some motors. I've seen it.

My driver door window gets hard to roll down about halfway down. The rubber seal on the door panel starts to get "pulled down" at that point. Roll it back up a tiny and bit and start back down and you can get a little further before it starts doing it again. Annoying, I guess I need to see if I can tweak the seal or door panel so it doesn't ride against the glass as hard. As for the "roll it all the way down, and it won't go back up", mine did that to. I took everything apart and it turned out that the regulator was just shot. There is a "beaded" cable in there (don't know how else to describe it) and the "bead" or "track" at the very end was rusted and worn smooth. Nothing for the gear to work against. Replaced the regulator with one from a XJ and everything is good.

??? Ratios: 1st = 4.01 2nd = 2.32 3rd = 1.40 4th = 1.00 5th = 0.78 R =3.55 5th gear is less overdrive than the AX-15, which is 0.72. You are correct. It has more overdrive than the Jeep 6 speed (NSG370). However the six speed has a lower first gear. I considered swapping to the six speed at one time, but to take full advantage of it I would have also had to switch to 4.10 gears. In the end the juice wasn't worth the squeeze even though I could have got the 6 speed for basically nothing.

What Gogmorgo said, check your codes. I had somewhat similar issues on my 91 XJ and the code led me to the Camshaft position sensor in the distributor. Replaced it and all was well.

I ran one in my CJ7 behind a 4.0 for about 7 years, with 35" tires. No problems other than I missed a 1-2 shift under power going up hill. After that the 1-2 synchro was finicky. Other than that operator error, I was happy with it. I've got another I will be running behind a 5.3 Chevy Vortec motor in the same CJ7. Swap in progress. The first gear is not a granny gear. Still good at about 4:1. It has a steep overdrive, so don't be afraid to run lower axle gears to get the best low gear performance, and the overdrive will let it stretch out on the highway. I ran 4.56 with 35s and it was perfect for my driving style.

Wow. Love the vintage NRA sticker on an old forestry truck. I consider myself well versed in JEEP, but had no idea those existed. Is the red one factory or home built?

Several months ago I broke a Lisle Torx T50 3/8 drive socket that I had owned for who knows how long. Maybe 20 years. I held onto it, sitting on top of my workbench, until I remembered to bring it inside one day. I emailed Lisle using the contact info on their website late in the afternoon. They replied the next morning, saying they would be sending a replacement in the mail. That was Jan 18. I got the replacement today, Jan 23. It was new, shrink wrapped to the card just like if it was being sold retail. I especially like that the new one says "USA" on it. The old one said "MADE IN USA", but close enough. Kudos to Lisle.

I have a curvy 25 mile one way drive to work every day. This would be a plus for me. Interesting info. I bought my MJ with intentions of converting it to 4wd. Since buying it I have had second thoughts of just enjoying it the way it is. If I do convert it, I figure I might as well use a 242, my previous experience with them is that they are perfect for winter driving with patchy ice and snow on the roads.

I certainly will. I actually plan to start a build thread one of these days, although my build mostly consists of adding factory options.

I once owned a 1989 XJ Wagonner with the woodgrain and 4 headlight grill. It had the 242 and the front Dana 30 was a non-disconnect. In my search for a 242, I've seen several pre-91 at the junkyards, but wanted to hold out for a 23 spline application. All the pre-91 I have seen used a non-disconnect front axle.

I'm interested to see how this turns out. I just converted to the late model windshield reservoir over the weekend and have a '96 mc/booster waiting to go in. And mine is a column shifter.

My 91 XJ had several broken off battery tray mounting bolts. IIRC, I cut them off flush from the top and then drilled holes through them and then mounted the tray with appropriate length bolts, nuts, and washers. Guess it may be a little hack but has worked out fine for a couple years now. There were many, many things wrong with the XJ when I got it and that was the first thing I addressed.

Thanks to everyone for the good info. I'm looking forward to digging into this thing and seeing what's what. Not sure when I'll get to it, as I have some projects in front of it. 5.3 engine swap in the -7, ground up resto/build on the -5, rusty brake line replacement on the Silverado. So many projects so little time.

I've had an XJ with a 242 before, but never did hardcore off road with it. If it does go bad, I suspect 231s are a good choice as a replacement simply because they are easier to find. I thought 242s had a viscous coupling? Can you elaborate on what the differences are on the later model 242s?

I guess to better answer your question, whatever year transmission it is compatible with, and is also compatible with my 91 MJ as part of a 4wd conversion. Do you know what years AW4 would be compatible with a 1991 MJ for a 4wd conversion? The transmission was also in the junkyard XJ, but the snout of the torque converter was damaged and the truck had over 300,000 miles on it. I plan on going through the transfer case anyway, but for a transmission, I'd rather find a known good used one.

I got it to eventually use in either my 91 Xj or the MJ as part of a 4wd conversion. I've rebuilt Dana 300, Dana 20, Dana 18, NP203, and NP205 cases, but never messed with a 231/242. So I plan to tear this one down just to become familiar with it. I've been on the lookout for a 23 spline version for a while. This one was still attached to the transmission and sitting in the back of the XJ, in other words already pulled out. I took that as a sign and was in and out with it in 30 minutes.

I see no one has replied so I will jump in. I'm sure I can find one at my local pick n pulls, but they are a hour and half away. I just went last weekend and probably won't go again for at least a month. If you haven't got one by then I'm pretty sure I can get one.

OK thanks. So, do you happen to know if 231 t-case has that also? Guess I'll look under my XJ... if so I will source one from the junkyard. Do you know if it is some sort of inspection port?

I picked this 242 out of a 1991 XJ. Got to looking at the driver side near the linkage and there is a hole. Not sure what it is for. Indicated by the blue arrow in the photo. Anyone know what that hole is for?

I was a young Lance Corporal in 1989 and a guy in my platoon bought a 2wd 4cyl Comanche. When I asked him why he chose it, he said because it was the cheapest new pickup he could find.

I would guess most owners never do. I've had the front clips off my XJ and MJ twice each. I added relays to power the headlights on my CJ7. I did the wiring in such a way that I couldn't remove the grill without disassembling the harness (removing the wire terminals from the weatherpack housings, and cutting a few wires). I thought, when will I have the grill off? Answer: when doing a V8 swap, currently in progress.

I had a similar problem, went to the junkyard and cut the connector and harness out of a donor XJ. Bonus that it had the fog light wiring. So I got a connector in much better shape, added the switch bezel and switch to the dash (wiring for switch is already there from factory) and now I have factory fog lights also. You could cut and solder, but it makes removing the front clip a pain in the butt because instead of unplugging one connector, now you have to disconnect all the wiring from the headlights, turn signals, and marker lights. True, you might never have to remove the front clip... my 2 cents. I did disassemble the "new" used connector and clean all the terminals. And as I recall, I had to move a few wires around to make the fog lights work, seems they changed the wiring for each pin over the years. Another option would be to spend some time in the junkyard looking for a more modern connector with the required number (and size) of wires and splice that in. The factory one isn't really sealed, hence the corrosion. Newer ones are sealed much better. It's more work splicing, but then you can still unplug the front clip at one connector.